In light of the recent State of Emergency declared by Governor Baker, we are asking Activity Professionals to share successful Resident Engagement Techniques that are being used in your facilities while we are all adhering to the guidance set forth by CMS and other Regulating Bodies. Help us to support fellow Activity Professionals by sharing Creative Ideas! Participants will automatically be entered into a raffle for a $25 Visa Gift Card. Limit (1) one raffle entry per person. Submissions will be posted to the “News” Section of our Website and will be updated regularly as new submissions come in. Please be sure to include your Name, Facility Name, Facility Type, Phone Number, E-mail, along with your idea. At this time, please submit all ideas to [email protected]. Raffle for participants will be drawn Monday, April 20th, 2020. The winner will be contacted, as well as, announced on our Website and Social Media pages. THANK YOU ALL!
CONTINUE READING BELOW FOR A LIST OF IDEAS/RESOURCES THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN SUBMITTED.
SUBMITTED 3/18/2020
Samantha Bennett
Wingate at Norton- Norton, MA
1.) ADULT COLORING CONTEST: We are hosting an Adult Coloring Contest for our Residents. The WINNER(S) will receive a Prize (ex: Spring Door Hanger/Décor). We have chosen to provide residents that participate with a small participation Prize (Trophies from Dollar Tree, Party Favor/Candy Bag, etc). I made bags of colored pencils along with a pencil sharpener for each resident so germs are not being spread. I was able to get colored pencils and pencil sharpeners on amazon pretty cheap. I also went through all of our colored pencils that we already had in house and made individual bags for residents as well. If the purchase of colored pencils is difficult for you, I have found that family members have been extremely willing to donate leisure items, such as colored pencils to the facility.
2.) UTILIZING STAFF TALENTS: We all have different talents and things we enjoy doing. One of my staff members is a Balloon Artist. She recently went room to room making balloon animals for residents. I lead our chorus group (even though I am not a great singer... they still love it! LOL) I am planning on going around with the members of the chorus group, one at a time, to go room to room to do "Singing Telegrams." I bring residents to their doorways or in the hallway so they can listen to a song at a safe distance. The Chorus Member and I will sing the song and then I will give a flower or card with a witty one liner joke to the resident we just sang to.
3.) TRAVELING WORD GAMES: Our residents love word games. Especially making words out of words/phrases. We always keep count and are amazed at how many we come up with. We are putting our stand alone dry erase board on a flatbed cart (for convenience purposes only- this can be done without the flatbed cart) and will go room to room on each unit so all residents can participate. My goal is to get residents to sit in their doorways, provided they are still at a safe distance from one another, so we can sit have the social aspect and so I don't have to bring items into resident rooms. We are going to do a competition between the units to see which unit can come up with the most words out of the same phrase. I am also going to make a traveling trophy that we can leave at the nursing station for the winner. Prior to the actual activity we have decided it would be a good idea to make copies of the word/phrase to give out to residents so they can look at it ahead of time and come up with words before we stop at their location.
Sara Meagher
Colony Center for Health & Rehabilitation- Abington, MA
1.) I have reached out to the community including one of our Girl Scout Troops. They are decorating small planters for our residents; once received we will pot seeds or small plants 1:1/in-rooms.
2.) We are printing psalms and handing out religious adult coloring for spiritual visits (in addition to prayer)
3.) Each day this week we have a Theme to help keep staff motivated! Sock Day, Green Day, Disney Day, Crazy Hair Day and Jeans/Fave T-shirt (Next week TBD) The residents light up when they see Snow White and Mickey Mouse Ears.
4.) I have reached out via fb for both resident and staff cards. I am making a “Colony Strong” Wall for cards received for staff support.
5.) I gobbled up $1 crafts at the Dollar Store (small ceramic eggs, paint kits, wooden crafts) for a few afternoon activities
6.) I am reminding staff to let residents know (daily/hourly if needed) their loved ones aren’t visiting e r/t a virus. I can’t tell you how many residents this has helped!!
7.) We are playing 1:1 balloon toss in the hallways as we have Dementia residents at risk for falls – 6 feet apart – I label the balloons w/resident name in black permanent marker for their use only. Even when it’s not their turn, they are getting visual and auditory stimulation from observing. (I’m using smiley face balloons; we have also made fun balloons ie cut out pig ears, taped to the balloon and black marker squiggly tail, etc)
Lateefa Coleman, M.Ed., CCC-SLP
DIRECTOR, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
RehabCare
Remote Control Cars: Bring in sanitized remote-control cars for your residents to race down the hallway while other residents watch from their doorways. A facility team member can provide “play-by-play” over the intercom.
Window Designs: Write personalized support messages or drawings in vibrant colors on the exterior windows of each resident’s room.
TO CONNECT WITH OTHERS:
Hall Line Dancing: Space residents and team members in hallway (appropriately spaced) and encourage dancing. Residents can also request their song of choice to promote engagement.
Resident Quiz: Create teams of residents and have them sit or stand at doorway. A facility team member then asks questions about the other resident (favorite hobby, favorite food, favorite song, etc.). The team with the most questions right wins a prize.
TO FACILITATE OUTCOMES:
Sling Shot Game: Have patient work on standing balance inside their room by tying a resistance band across a walker or have two team members hold each side of the band. Place a small foam ball in the resistance band for resident to “shoot” across the room with the goal of getting 100 points. Hitting the door/wall is 5 points, hitting a smaller target in the room is 10 points and hitting a therapist is 15 points.
FaceTime Family Therapy: Work with resident’s family to schedule a time to FaceTime with the resident during their exercise plan. Therapy team can encourage participation with the family and resident.
Matt Reiners
Eversound
125 Kingston Street
Boston, MA
Free Access to Recordings of Events
Until April 30th, Eversound is extending free access to 100s of video events hosted by subject matter experts and cultural institutions on a variety of topics including animals, culinary arts, history and more. Sign-up here.
Free Resident Packets
22 pages of boredom busters for residents
Activity Ideas
We hope these help support you all during this time. We're cheering for you and please let us know if we can help in anyway!
Hello from the Perk Daily!
The Perk Daily are daily news sheets written and designed for seniors. Each sheet features a real holiday and its history, an inspirational quote, a pun, a clever word search puzzle, and so much more! Each sheet can be enjoyed independently or as a part of a one-on-one activity.
During this difficult time - especially for those isolated in AL and SNF communities - we are offering the April edition of The Perk Daily FREE to all communities.
Simply click below to request your free April Perks. In the “How did you hear about us?” field, please type THANKS and we will send you the link to the FREE downloadable PDF. Simply print as many of each daily Perk as you’d like to distribute to your residents.
Please stay strong, healthy and optimistic. We will get through this together…one Perk at a time.
